Centralized control of area lighting hours of illumination

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods and articles for providing centralized control of area lighting hours of illumination. An illumination system includes a central control system operatively coupled to a plurality of luminaires through a power-line power distribution system. The central control system issues illumination commands to the plurality of luminaires through the power-line power distribution system. The central control system may generate commands directed to all luminaires in an illumination system, or to one or more subsets of luminaires in the lamination system. The central control system may sequentially turn on luminaires in the illumination system to reduce power surges that would otherwise occur.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to illumination, and more particularly tocontrol of a plurality of illumination devices and systems.

2. Description of the Related Art

Luminaires enjoy widespread use in a variety of industrial, commercial,and municipal applications. Such applications can include general orarea lighting of workspaces, roadways, parking lots, and the like.Multiple luminaires are typically arranged in patterns and positioned atintervals sufficient to provide a minimum overall level of illuminationacross the area of interest. For example, luminaires may be spaced atintervals along a driveway in a multilevel parking garage to provide anoverall level of illumination that permits safe ingress and egress bypedestrians as well as permits safe operation of motor vehicles withinthe parking garage. In a similar manner, luminaires may be spaced atintervals throughout a commercial center parking lot to promote safeoperation of motor vehicles, permit safe ingress and egress bycustomers, and foster a sense of safety and well-being for businesspatrons within the commercial center. Similarly, a number of luminairesmay be spaced along a roadway to provide a level of illuminationpermitting safe operation of motor vehicles on the roadway and, whereapplicable, safe passage of pedestrians on sidewalks adjoining theroadway.

To simplify power distribution and control wiring, such luminaires maybe organized into groups or similar hierarchical power and controlstructures. For example, multiple luminaires along a roadway may begrouped together on a common power circuit that is controlled using asingle, centralized controller to collectively adjust the luminousoutput of all of the luminaires in the group. In another instance,multiple luminaires within a parking garage may be controlled using asingle photocell mounted on the exterior of the parking garage. Suchinstallations may however compromise operational flexibility for ease ofinstallation and simplicity of operation.

Energy conservation has become of ever-increasing importance. Efficientuse of energy can result in a variety of benefits, including financialbenefits such as cost savings and environmental benefits such aspreservation of natural resources and reduction in “green house” (e.g.,CO₂) gas emissions.

Residential, commercial, and street lighting which illuminate interiorand exterior spaces consume a significant amount of energy. Conventionallighting devices or luminaires exist in a broad range of designs,suitable for various uses. Lighting devices employ a variety ofconventional light sources, for example incandescent lamps, fluorescentlamps such as high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps (e.g., mercury vaporlamps, high-pressure sodium lamps, metal halide lamps).

There appear to be at least two primary approaches to reducing energyconsumption associated with lighting systems. One approach employshigher efficiency light sources. The other approach selectively provideslight only when needed.

Use of higher efficiency light sources may, for instance, includereplacing incandescent lamps with fluorescent lamps or even withsolid-state light sources (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs), organicLEDs (OLEDs), polymer LEDs (PLEDs)) to increase energy efficiency. Insome instances, these higher efficiency light sources may present anumber of problems. For example, fluorescent light sources may take arelatively long time after being turned ON to achieve their full ratedlevel of output light or illumination. Such light sources also typicallyhave a high energy consumption during warm-up. Many higher efficiencylight sources emit light with a low color rendering index (CRI). Forreference, sunlight has a CRI of 100 and represents “ideal light” whichcontains a continuous spectrum of visible radiation. Low CRI light isless pleasing to the human eye. Surfaces illuminated with low CRI lightmay not be perceived in their “true” color. Low CRI light makes it moredifficult to discern details, often requiring a higher level of outputlight or illumination to discern details that would otherwise bediscernable in high CRI light. Further, higher efficiency light sourcesmay require additional circuitry (e.g., ballasts) and/or thermalmanagement techniques (e.g., passive or active cooling).

Providing illumination only when needed can be achieved manually by auser of the lighting system, or automatically through the use of one ormore control mechanisms. Automatic control mechanisms generally fallinto two broad categories, timers and environmental sensors. Timer-basedcontrol mechanisms turn light sources ON and OFF based on time. Thetimes are typically user configurable and result in the luminaireturning ON for a period of time and then OFF for the remainder of a 24hour period. Such timing circuits rely on the user to account forchanges in length of daylight which may occur throughout a year byadjusting the ON period of the luminaire commensurate with the change inday length. Very often, timer-based control mechanisms are set once andnever updated.

Automatic control devices such as photosensitive transducers(photosensors) and motion or proximity sensors add to the cost of alight fixture, and are frequently mounted in exposed positions whereenvironmental or physical damage is unavoidable or vandalism may occur.In addition, a failure of the automatic control mechanism, for examplefailure of a photosensor used to turn the light source ON or OFFdependent upon the measured ambient light level, may result in the lightsource remaining in a continuously ON state in the event the automaticcontrol mechanism fails in a “closed” position, permitting current flowto the light source, or in a continuously OFF state in the event theautomatic control mechanism fails in an “open” position, interruptingcurrent flow to the light source. Either failure mode results in anundesirable mode of operation of the light source.

Generally, a photocontrol is a device that switches or controlselectrical loads based on ambient light levels. As an example, aphotocontrol can be used as a switch that provides electrical power to aluminaire only when detected light levels are below a desired level.Photocontrols used for such luminaires may include photosensors that areelectrically and operably coupled to switching devices rated for use atrelatively high line voltages (e.g., 90 VAC to 600 VAC) and atrelatively high currents (e.g., amperes and higher). For example, aphotocontrol for a luminaire may include a photosensor that controls anelectro-mechanical relay coupled between a source of electrical powerand a control device (e.g., a magnetic or electronic transformer) withinthe luminaire. The electro-mechanical relay may be configured to be inan electrically continuous state unless a signal from the photosensor ispresent to supply power to the luminaire. If the photosensor isilluminated with a sufficient amount of light, the photosensor outputsthe signal that causes the electro-mechanical relay to switch to anelectrically discontinuous state such that no power is supplied to theluminaire.

A typical electro-mechanical relay used with a photocontrol for aluminaire has a relatively short life span. For example,electro-mechanical relays of conventional photocontrols used withluminaires may be rated to have only 5000 contactor closures withstandard loads. Arcing caused by high capacitive in-rush currents ofelectronically ballasted luminaires and inductive “kick back” ofmagnetically ballasted luminaires can corrode the contactors of theelectro-mechanical relays. Additionally, the contactors may includesilver or other metal alloys upon which oxides and sulfides may formduring normal operation. At line voltage and current, such oxides andsulfides may present a negligible resistance to the passage of currentthrough the contactors. However, at relatively low voltages (e.g., 2V to24V) and relatively low currents (e.g., microamps) such as those usedfor digital logic level signaling, the impedance presented bycontaminants including oxide and sulfide accumulations can hinder oreven prevent the transmission of current through the contactors. Thus,conventional photocontrols for luminaires can have especially short lifespans when used in applications where the switching of relatively lowvoltage and relatively low current signals is required, for example,with luminaires that include solid-state light source drivers, forexample, light emitting diode (LED) drivers that receive control signalsfor LED arrays.

BRIEF SUMMARY

A method of operation for a processor-based device to control aplurality of remotely located luminaires may be summarized as including:receiving, by at least one central control processor, illumination datarelating to at least one of ambient illumination or time of day;generating, at the at least one central control processor, anillumination command based at least in part on the received illuminationdata; and distributing the illumination command through a power-linepower distribution system.

The method may further include: receiving, at the plurality ofluminaires, the illumination command through the power-line powerdistribution system; and controlling, at each of the plurality ofluminaires, illumination of each respective luminaire based at least inpart on the received illumination command. Controlling the illuminationof each respective luminaire based at least in part on the receivedillumination command may include: controlling, at a first set of theplurality of luminaires, each respective luminaire in the first set tobe in an illuminating state; and controlling, at a second set of theplurality of luminaires, each respective luminaire in the second set tobe in a non-illuminating state. Receiving illumination data may includereceiving photosensor data obtained from a photosensor operativelycoupled to the at least one central control processor. Receivingillumination data may include receiving time data from a clockoperatively coupled to the at least one central control processor.Generating an illumination command based at least in part on thereceived illumination data may include generating an illuminationcommand that commands a first set of the plurality of luminaires to bein an illuminating state and commands a second set of the plurality ofluminaires to be in a non-illuminating state. Generating an illuminationcommand based at least in part on the received illumination data mayinclude generating an illumination command that commands luminaires inthe plurality of luminaires associated with a first set of logicaladdresses to be in an illuminating state and commands luminaires in theplurality of luminaires associated with a second set of logicaladdresses to be in a non-illuminating state. Generating an illuminationcommand based at least in part on the received illumination data mayinclude generating a set of illumination commands, each of theillumination commands in the set of illumination commands directed toluminaires associated with a unique set of logical addresses. The methodmay further include: generating a set of illumination commands based atleast in part on the received illumination data, each one of theillumination commands in the set directed to a different subset of theplurality of luminaires; and sequentially distributing each of theillumination commands in the set of illumination commands through thepower-line power distribution system. The method may further include:receiving, at the plurality of luminaires, the illumination commands inthe set of illumination commands through the power-line powerdistribution system; and controlling, at each of the plurality ofluminaires, the illumination of each respective luminaire based at leastin part on the received illumination commands. The method may furtherinclude: partitioning the plurality of luminaires into at least twosubsets based at least in part on a geographical location of each of theluminaires; and logically associating each luminaire with one of the atleast two subsets in a nontransitory processor-readable storage medium;wherein generating an illumination command based at least in part on thereceived illumination data may include generating an illuminationcommand directed to one of the subsets of luminaires in the at least twosubsets. Distributing the illumination command through a power-linepower distribution system may include superimposing the illuminationcommand onto a power line of the power-line power distribution system.Receiving illumination data relating to at least one of ambientillumination or time of day may include receiving illumination data froman illumination data source positioned remote from at least some of theplurality of luminaires.

An illumination system may be summarized as including: at least onecentral control system comprising: at least one central controlprocessor; at least one illumination data source operatively coupled tothe at least one central control processor; a central transceiveroperatively coupled to the at least one central control processor and apower-line power distribution system; and at least one nontransitoryprocessor-readable storage medium operatively coupled to the at leastone central control processor and storing at least one of data orinstructions which, when executed by the at least one central controlprocessor, cause the at least one central control processor to: receiveillumination data from the at least one illumination data sourcerelating to at least one of ambient illumination or time of day;generate an illumination command based at least in part on the receivedillumination data; and distribute the illumination command through thepower-line power distribution system via the central transceiver.

The illumination system may further include: a plurality of luminaires,each of the luminaires including: at least one luminaire controlprocessor; at least one light source operatively coupled to theluminaire control processor; a luminaire transceiver operatively coupledto the at least one luminaire control processor and the power-line powerdistribution system; and at least one nontransitory processor-readablestorage medium operatively coupled to the at least one luminaire controlprocessor and storing at least one of data or instructions which, whenexecuted by the at least one luminaire control processor, cause the atleast one luminaire control processor to: receive the illuminationcommand through the power-line power distribution system via theluminaire transceiver; and control the operation of the at least onelight source based at least in part on the received illuminationcommand. In response to receipt of the illumination command from the atleast one central control processor, the at least one luminaire controlprocessor of each respective luminaire in a first set of luminaires maycontrol the light source to be in an illuminating state, and the atleast one luminaire control processor of each respective luminaire in asecond set of luminaires may control the light source to be in anon-illuminating state. The illumination data source may include aphotosensor operatively coupled to the central control processor, andthe at least one central control processor may receive photosensor datafrom the photosensor. The illumination data source may include a clockoperatively coupled to the central control processor, and the at leastone central control processor may receive time data from the clock. Theat least one central control processor may generate an illuminationcommand that commands a first set of the plurality of luminaires to bein an illuminating state, and may command a second set of the pluralityof luminaires to be in a non-illuminating state. The at least onecentral control processor may generate an illumination command thatcommands luminaires in the plurality of luminaires associated with afirst set of logical addresses to be in an illuminating state, and maycommand luminaires in the plurality of luminaires associated with asecond set of logical addresses to be in a non-illuminating state. Theat least one central control processor may generate a set ofillumination commands, each of the illumination commands in the set ofillumination commands directed to luminaires associated with a uniqueset of logical addresses. The at least one central control processor maygenerate a set of illumination commands based at least in part on thereceived illumination data, each one of the illumination commands in theset directed to a different subset of the plurality of luminaires; andmay sequentially distribute each of the illumination commands in the setof illumination commands through the power-line power distributionsystem. The at least one central control processor may partition theplurality of luminaires into at least two subsets based at least in parton a geographical location of each of the luminaires; and may logicallyassociate each luminaire with one of the at least two subsets in the atleast one nontransitory processor-readable storage medium; wherein theat least one central control processor may generate an illuminationcommand directed to one of the subsets of luminaires in the at least twosubsets. The at least one central transceiver may superimpose theillumination command onto a power line of the power-line powerdistribution system, and the luminaire transceiver of each luminaire mayreceive distributed power from the power line of the power-line powerdistribution system, and separate the illumination command from thedistributed power. The illumination data source may be positioned remotefrom at least some of the plurality of luminaires.

A method of operation for a processor-based device to control aplurality of remotely located luminaires may be summarized as including:receiving, by at least one central control processor, illumination datarelating to at least one of ambient illumination or time of day;generating, at the at least one central control processor, anillumination command based at least in part on the received illuminationdata; and distributing the illumination command through a power-linepower distribution system to the plurality of luminaires; wherein eachof the plurality of luminaires receives the illumination command throughthe power-line power distribution system and controls the operation ofeach respective luminaire based at least in part on the receivedillumination command.

An illumination system to control the operation of a plurality ofluminaires may be summarized as including: at least one central controlsystem comprising: at least one central control processor; at least oneillumination data source operatively coupled to the at least one centralcontrol processor; a central transceiver operatively coupled to the atleast one central control processor and a power-line power distributionsystem; and at least one nontransitory processor-readable storage mediumoperatively coupled to the at least one central control processor andstoring at least one of data or instructions which, when executed by theat least one central control processor, cause the at least one centralcontrol processor to: receive illumination data from the at least oneillumination data source relating to at least one of ambientillumination or time of day; generate an illumination command based atleast in part on the received illumination data; and distribute theillumination command through the power-line power distribution systemvia the central transceiver to the plurality of luminaires, each of theplurality of luminaires receives the illumination command through thepower-line power distribution system and controls the operation of eachrespective luminaire based at least in part on the received illuminationcommand.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, identical reference numbers identify similar elementsor acts. The sizes and relative positions of elements in the drawingsare not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the shapes of variouselements and angles are not drawn to scale, and some of these elementsare arbitrarily enlarged and positioned to improve drawing legibility.Further, the particular shapes of the elements as drawn, are notintended to convey any information regarding the actual shape of theparticular elements, and have been solely selected for ease ofrecognition in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an environment in which an illuminationsystem may be implemented, according to at least one illustratedembodiment.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the illumination system of FIG.1, according to at least one illustrated embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an environment in which an illuminationsystem may be implemented, according to at least one illustratedembodiment.

FIG. 4 is a graph that illustrates a sequential startup process forluminaires in an illumination system, according to at least oneillustrated embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing a method of operation of aprocessor-based device to control illumination of a plurality ofluminaires in an illumination system, according to at least oneillustrated embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, certain specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of various disclosedembodiments. However, one skilled in the relevant art will recognizethat embodiments may be practiced without one or more of these specificdetails, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. In otherinstances, well-known structures associated with the various embodimentshave not been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarilyobscuring descriptions of the embodiments.

Unless the context requires otherwise, throughout the specification andclaims that follow, the word “comprising” is synonymous with“including,” and is inclusive or open-ended (i.e., does not excludeadditional, unrecited elements or method acts).

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or“in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification arenot necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, theparticular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined inany suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Additionally, the terms“lighting,” “luminous output” and “illumination” are used hereininterchangeably. For instance, the phrases “level of illumination” or“level of light output” have the same meanings. In addition, forinstance, the phrases “illumination source” and “light source” have thesame meanings.

As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singularforms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the contentclearly dictates otherwise. It should also be noted that the term “or”is generally employed in its broadest sense, that is, as meaning“and/or” unless the content clearly dictates otherwise.

The headings and Abstract of the Disclosure provided herein are forconvenience only and do not interpret the scope or meaning of theembodiments.

Systems, methods and articles of the present disclosure are directed toproviding centralized control of area lighting hours of illumination.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an illumination system100 that includes a power-line power distribution system 102, such as analternating current (AC) network of a utility that includes one or moreAC power sources 103, a central control system 104, and a plurality ofluminaires 106. Three luminaires 106 are shown in FIG. 1 but it shouldbe appreciated that the number of luminaires may vary depending on aparticular application. For example, for applications wherein thecentral control system 104 controls luminaires 106 for a city, thenumber of luminaires may be in the hundreds or even thousands. Controloutput from the central control system 104 is coupled to the powerdistribution system 102 so as to supply control signals or commands tothe plurality of luminaires 106 via power lines of the powerdistribution system.

The central control system 104 is operatively coupled to an illuminationdata source 108 that provides illumination data to the central controlsystem through a suitable wired and/or wireless interface. In someimplementations, the illumination data source 108 may include one ormore photosensors operative to sense ambient light which may be used todetect one or more solar events (e.g., dawn event, dusk event). In someimplementations, the illumination data source 108 may include one ormore clocks or timers, and/or one or more look-up tables or other datastructures that indicate dawn events and dusk events for one or moregeographical locations at various times during a year. The time ofoccurrence of various solar events may additionally or alternatively becalculated using geolocation, time, or date data either generated by orstored within the central control system 104 or obtained from one ormore external devices via one or more wired or wireless communicationinterfaces either in or communicably coupled to the central controlsystem.

The central control system 104 receives illumination data from theillumination data source 108. Upon receipt of the illumination data, thecentral control system 104 may generate an illumination command.

The illumination command from the central control system 104 may beconverted into power line control signals that may be superimposed ontowiring of the power distribution system 102 so that the control signalsare transmitted or distributed to the luminaires 106 via the powerdistribution system. In some implementations, the power line controlsystem signals may be in the form of amplitude modulation signals,frequency modulation signals, frequency shift keyed signals (FSK),differential frequency shift keyed signals (DFSK), differential phaseshift keyed signals (DPSK), or other types of signals. The command codeformat of the control signals may be that of a commercially availablecontroller format or may be that of a custom controller format. Anexample power line communication system is the TWACS® system availablefrom Aclara Corporation, Hazelwood, Mo.

The central control system 104 may utilize a power line transceiver (seeFIG. 2) that includes special coupling capacitors to connecttransmitters to power-frequency AC conductors of the power distributionsystem 102. Signals may be impressed on one conductor, on two conductorsor on all three conductors of a high-voltage AC transmission line.Filtering devices may be applied at substations of the powerdistribution system 102 to prevent the carrier frequency current frombeing bypassed through substation infrastructure. Power line carriersystems may be favored by utilities because they allow utilities toreliably move data over an infrastructure that they control.

In some instances, the power line control signals may be in the form ofa broadcast signal or command delivered to each of the luminaires 106 inthe illumination system 100. In some instances, the power line controlsignals may be specifically addressed to an individual luminaire 106, orto one or more groups or subsets of luminaires.

Referring to an exemplary luminaire 106 shown in FIG. 1, each luminaireincludes one or more light sources 110, a power line transceiver 112, apower supply 114, and a luminaire processor 116. The power linetransceiver 112 and the power supply 114 may each be electricallycoupled with the power distribution system 102 to receive the power linecontrol signal and a power signal, respectively, from the powerdistribution system. The power line transceiver 112 may separate ordecode the power line control signals from the power signals and mayprovide the decoded signals to the luminaire processor 116. In turn, theluminaire processor 116 may generate one or more light source controlcommands that are supplied to the light sources 110 to control theoperation thereof.

The power supply 114 may receive an AC power signal from the powerdistribution system 102, generate a DC power output, and supply thegenerated DC power output to the light sources 110 to power the lightsources as controlled by the light source control commands from theluminaire processor 116.

The light sources 110 may include one or more of a variety ofconventional light sources, for example incandescent lamps orfluorescent lamps such as high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps (e.g.,mercury vapor lamps, high-pressure sodium lamps, metal halide lamps).The light sources 110 may also include one or more solid-state lightsources (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs), organic LEDs (OLEDs),polymer LEDs (PLEDs)).

FIG. 2 and the following discussion provide a brief, general descriptionof the components forming the illumination system 100 including thecentral control system 104, the power distribution system 102, theillumination data source 108, and the luminaires 106 in which thevarious illustrated embodiments can be implemented. Although notrequired, some portion of the embodiments will be described in thegeneral context of computer-executable instructions or logic, such asprogram application modules, objects, or macros being executed by acomputer. Those skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that theillustrated embodiments as well as other embodiments can be practicedwith other computer system or processor-based device configurations,including handheld devices, for instance Web enabled cellular phones orPDAs, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmableconsumer electronics, personal computers (“PCs”), network PCs,minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The embodiments can bepracticed in distributed computing environments where tasks or modulesare performed by remote processing devices, which are linked through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, programmodules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

The central control system 104 may take the form of a PC, server, orother computing system executing logic or other machine executableinstructions which may advantageously improve machine-readable symbolreading, allowing blurred and otherwise unreadable machine-readablesymbols to be successfully read and decoded. The central control system104 includes one or more processors 206, a system memory 208 and asystem bus 210 that couples various system components including thesystem memory 208 to the processor 206. The central control system 104will at times be referred to in the singular herein, but this is notintended to limit the embodiments to a single system, since in certainembodiments, there will be more than one central control system 104 orother networked computing device involved. Non-limiting examples ofcommercially available systems include, but are not limited to, an 80x86or Pentium series microprocessor from Intel Corporation, U.S.A., aPowerPC microprocessor from IBM, a Sparc microprocessor from SunMicrosystems, Inc., a PA-RISC series microprocessor from Hewlett-PackardCompany, or a 68xxx series microprocessor from Motorola Corporation.

The central control system 104 may be implemented as a supervisorycontrol and data acquisition (SCADA) system or as one or more componentsthereof. Generally, a SCADA system is a system operating with codedsignals over communication channels to provide control of remoteequipment. The supervisory system may be combined with a dataacquisition system by adding the use of coded signals over communicationchannels to acquire information about the status of the remote equipmentfor display or for recording functions.

The processor 206 may be any logic processing unit, such as one or morecentral processing units (CPUs), microprocessors, digital signalprocessors (DSPs), graphics processors (GPUs), application-specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),etc. Unless described otherwise, the construction and operation of thevarious blocks shown in FIG. 2 are of conventional design. As a result,such blocks need not be described in further detail herein, as they willbe understood by those skilled in the relevant art.

The system bus 210 can employ any known bus structures or architectures.The system memory 208 includes read-only memory (“ROM”) 212 and randomaccess memory (“RAM”) 214. A basic input/output system (“BIOS”) 216,which may be incorporated into at least a portion of the ROM 212,contains basic routines that help transfer information between elementswithin the central control system 104, such as during start-up. Someembodiments may employ separate buses for data, instructions and power.

The central control system 104 also may include one or more drives 218for reading from and writing to one or more nontransitory computer- orprocessor-readable media 220 (e.g., hard disk, magnetic disk, opticaldisk). The drive 218 may communicate with the processor 206 via thesystem bus 210. The drive 218 may include interfaces or controllers (notshown) coupled between such drives and the system bus 210, as is knownby those skilled in the art. The drives 218 and their associatednontransitory computer- or processor-readable media 220 providenonvolatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules and other data for the central control system 104. Thoseskilled in the relevant art will appreciate that other types ofcomputer-readable media may be employed to store data accessible by acomputer.

Program modules can be stored in the system memory 208, such as anoperating system 230, one or more application programs 232, otherprograms or modules 234, and program data 238.

The application program(s) 232 may include logic capable of providingthe luminaire control functionality described herein. For example,applications programs 232 may include programs for controllingluminaires 106 based at least in part on data received from theillumination data source 108.

The system memory 208 may include communications programs 240 thatpermit the central control system 104 to access and exchange data withother networked systems or components, such as the luminaires 106 and/orother computing devices.

While shown in FIG. 2 as being stored in the system memory 208, theoperating system 230, application programs 232, other programs/modules234, program data 238 and communications 240 can be stored on thenontransitory computer- or processor-readable media 220 or othernontransitory computer- or processor-readable media.

Personnel can enter commands (e.g., system maintenance, upgrades) andinformation (e.g., parameters) into the central control system 104 usingone or more communicably coupled input devices 246 such as a touchscreen or keyboard, a pointing device such as a mouse, and/or a pushbutton. Other input devices can include a microphone, joystick, gamepad, tablet, scanner, biometric scanning device, etc. These and otherinput devices may be connected to the processing unit 206 through aninterface such as a universal serial bus (“USB”) interface that couplesto the system bus 210, although other interfaces such as a parallelport, a game port or a wireless interface or a serial port may be used.One or more output devices 250, such as a monitor or other displaydevice, may be coupled to the system bus 210 via a video interface, suchas a video adapter. In at least some instances, the input devices 246and the output devices 250 may be located proximate the central controlsystem 104, for example when the system is installed at the systemuser's premises. In other instances, the input devices 246 and theoutput devices 250 may be located remote from the central control system104, for example when the system is installed on the premises of aservice provider.

In some implementations, the central control system 104 uses one or moreof the logical connections to optionally communicate with one or moreremote computers, servers and/or other devices via one or morecommunications channels, for example, one or more networks 114. Theselogical connections may facilitate any known method of permittingcomputers to communicate, such as through one or more LANs and/or WANs.Such networking environments are known in wired and wirelessenterprise-wide computer networks, intranets, extranets, and theInternet.

In some implementations, a network port or interface 256,communicatively linked to the system bus 210, may be used forestablishing and maintaining communications over the communicationsnetwork 114.

The central control system may include a power line interface 258 and anAC/DC power supply 260 that are each electrically coupled to the powerdistribution system 102. The AC/DC power supply 260 converts AC powerfrom the power distribution system 102 into DC power, which may beprovided to power the various components of the central control system104. As discussed above, the power line interface 258 may be operativeto superimpose control signals onto one or more conductors of the powerdistribution system 102 that carries power to the luminaires 106. Thepower line interface 258 may also be operative to decode and receivecommunication signals sent over the power distribution system 102 (e.g.,from the power line interface 112 of a luminaire 106 (FIG. 1)).

In the illumination system 100, program modules, application programs,or data, or portions thereof, can be stored in one or more computingsystems. Those skilled in the relevant art will recognize that thenetwork connections shown in FIG. 2 are only some examples of ways ofestablishing communications between computers, and other connections maybe used, including wireless. In some embodiments, program modules,application programs, or data, or portions thereof, can even be storedin other computer systems or other devices (not shown).

For convenience, the processor 206, system memory 208, network port 256and devices 246, 250 are illustrated as communicatively coupled to eachother via the system bus 210, thereby providing connectivity between theabove-described components. In alternative embodiments, theabove-described components may be communicatively coupled in a differentmanner than illustrated in FIG. 2. For example, one or more of theabove-described components may be directly coupled to other components,or may be coupled to each other, via intermediary components (notshown). In some embodiments, system bus 210 is omitted and thecomponents are coupled directly to each other using suitableconnections.

It should be appreciated that the luminaires 106 may include componentssimilar to those components present in the central control system 104,including the processor 206, power supply 260, power line interface 258,buses, nontransitory computer- or processor-readable media, wired orwireless communications interfaces, and one or more input and/or outputdevices.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic block diagram of an illumination system 300.The illumination system 300 includes a plurality of sets of luminaires106 positioned at various geographical locations. In the illustratedsimplified implementation, the illumination system 300 includes a set302 of luminaires 106 positioned along a particular stretch of a highway304, a set 306 of luminaires positioned at a park 308, and a set 310 ofluminaires positioned on a bridge 312. The luminaires 106 may be similaror identical to the luminaires described above and shown in FIGS. 1 and2.

Each of the luminaires 106 is electrically coupled to a powerdistribution system 314, such as an AC power network provided by anelectric utility. A power line interface 316 is operatively coupled tothe power distribution system 314. In this implementation, a centralcontrol system 318 is operatively coupled to each of the luminaires 106through a network 320 operatively coupled to the power line interface316. The network 320 may include one or more wired or wireless networkssuch as the Internet, an extranet, an intranet, a LAN and/or a WAN.

The central control system 318 may also be operatively coupled to anillumination data source 322, such as a photosensor, one or more look-uptables, one or more clocks or timers, or other data structures thatprovide information useful to determining when to turn on and turn offthe luminaires 106. In some implementations, the illumination datasource 322 may be a plurality of illumination data sources. For example,a photosensor may be positioned at each of the highway 304, the park 308and the bridge 312. In some implementations, the illumination datasource 322 may be associated with one or more of the individualluminaires 106. For example, the illumination system 300 may include onephotosensor that is a component of a luminaire 106 at the park 308, onephotosensor that is a component of a luminaire on the highway 304, andone photosensor that is a component of a luminaire on the bridge 312. Inthese instances, the respective luminaires 106 including thephotosensors may send illumination data to the central control system318 via the power distribution system 314 so that the central controlsystem can generate appropriate illumination control commands for all ofthe luminaires in the illumination system.

In some implementations, it may not be desirable to turn on or turn offall of the luminaires 106 in the area covered by the central controlsystem 318 to minimize the power surge requirements of the electricalinfrastructure. In these instances, the central control system 318 maygenerate illumination commands (e.g., “TURN ON LUMINAIRE”) which may besent to all the luminaires 106 but are executed by only a subset of theluminaires. For example, each luminaire 106 may have a logical addressassociated therewith which is used by the central control system 318 todirect a command to particular luminaires. Some commands issued from thecentral control system 318 may indicate that only luminaires with aparticular subset of addresses must execute the command.

As a non-limiting example, the luminaires 106 may be provided withnumerical addresses. The central control system 318 may issue a commanddirected to all luminaires 106 having numerical addresses with the lastdigit equal to 0 (i.e., luminaires with addresses ending in 0 wouldexecute the command while luminaires with addresses ending in 1-9 wouldnot execute the command). The central control system 318 maysubsequently issue another command directed to all luminaires 106 havingnumerical addresses with the last digit equal to 1. This sequence ofcommands may continue until the central control system 318 issues acommand directed to all luminaires 106 having numerical addresses withthe last digit equal to 9 such that the luminaires in the illuminationsystem 300 are divided into 10 groups or subsets. This process has theeffect of reducing the power surge by 90% since only 10% of theluminaires 106 are turned on at a given time.

FIG. 4 is a graph 400 that illustrates the above example of the centralcontrol system 318 using sequential starting logic to turn on 10 sets ofluminaires. At time t₀, the central control system 318 issues a firstcommand to turn on the first set of luminaires. At time t₁, the centralcontrol system issues a second command to turn on the second set ofluminaires. This sequential starting logic continues until the tenth setof luminaires is turned on at time t₉. By using this process, the powersurge that would otherwise be caused by turning on luminairessimultaneously may be greatly reduced.

In some implementations, the subsets of the luminaires may be determinedby geographical location. In the illustrated example of FIG. 3, thecentral control system 318 may generate a first command that turns onall of the luminaires 106 in the set 302 of luminaires on the highway304, a subsequent second command that turns on all of the luminaires inthe set 306 of luminaires in the park 308, and a subsequent thirdcommand that turns on all of the luminaires in the set 310 of luminaireson the bridge 312. By switching luminaires 106 located in the samegeographical area at the same time, undesirable independent switching ofluminaires within an area is prevented. For example, on a busy streetwhere individual luminaires have individual photocontrols that havedifferent sensitivities or different local ambient light levels, eachluminaire along the street may be switched on or off independently,which could cause a distraction.

FIG. 5 shows a method 500 of operating one or more processor-baseddevices to control the illumination of one or more geographical areas.

The method 500 starts at 502. For example, the method 500 may start inresponse to commissioning an illumination system, such as theillumination systems 100 and 300 shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, respectively.

At 504, the central control system may receive illumination datarelating to ambient illumination or a time of day from an illuminationdata source. For example, the central control system may receiveillumination data from a photosensor, or from a look-up table of duskand dawn times.

At 506, the central control system generates an illumination commandbased on the received illumination data. As discussed above, theillumination command may be directed to all of the luminaires in theillumination system, or one or more subsets of luminaires in the system.Additionally, the central control system may generate a pluralityillumination commands intended to be sequentially executed, for example,to sequentially turn on luminaires in the illumination system to reducepower surges.

At 508, the central control system causes the illumination command to bedistributed through a power distribution system using power linecommunication. By using power line communication, the illuminationsystem may use existing infrastructure without incurring the expense ofadding additional wired or wireless communication channels.

At 510, each of the luminaires receives the illumination command throughthe power distribution system. As shown in FIG. 1, each of theluminaires may be equipped with a power line communications transceiverthat facilitates reception of the illumination commands from the centralcontrol system over the power distribution system.

At 512, each of the luminaires controls the illumination of itsrespective light sources based at least in part on the illuminationcommand received from the central control system. Each of the luminairesmay control its respective light sources to be in the on state, offstate, or a dimmed state. Further, as discussed above, each luminairemay determine whether the illumination command is directed to theluminaire based on addressing information in the command or otherinformation specifying to which luminaires in the set of luminaires thecommand is directed.

The method 500 ends at 514 until started or invoked again. For example,the method 500 may be operated substantially continuously for anextended duration (e.g., years) so that the luminaires of theillumination system are continuously controlled through day and nightfor an extended period of time.

It should be appreciated that one advantage provided by theimplementations of the present disclosure is that luminaires areimproved because they do not need to have, but may have, workingphotocontrols installed locally. Another advantage is that the powersurge that occurs when numerous luminaires are tuned on or off may bemanaged by the central control system to protect electricalinfrastructure. Another advantage provided by the implementations of thepresent disclosure is that local areas of luminaires may be switched atthe same time, thereby preventing independent switching of luminaires,as would be the case with luminaires using locally installedphotocontrols that have different sensitivities or local ambient lightlevels. In the presently described systems and methods, all luminairesin a particular geographical area (e.g., a busy street) may be switchedon or off simultaneously.

The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments ofthe devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, schematics,and examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, schematics, and examplescontain one or more functions and/or operations, it will be understoodby those skilled in the art that each function and/or operation withinsuch block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented,individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software,firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In one embodiment, thepresent subject matter may be implemented via Application SpecificIntegrated Circuits (ASICs). However, those skilled in the art willrecognize that the embodiments disclosed herein, in whole or in part,can be equivalently implemented in standard integrated circuits, as oneor more computer programs running on one or more computers (e.g., as oneor more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one ormore programs running on one or more controllers (e.g.,microcontrollers), as one or more programs running on one or moreprocessors (e.g., microprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually anycombination thereof, and that designing the circuitry and/or writing thecode for the software and/or firmware would be well within the skill ofone of ordinary skill in the art in light of this disclosure.

Those of skill in the art will recognize that many of the methods oralgorithms set out herein may employ additional acts, may omit someacts, and/or may execute acts in a different order than specified.

In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that themechanisms taught herein are capable of being distributed as a programproduct in a variety of forms, and that an illustrative embodimentapplies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearingmedia used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples of signalbearing media include, but are not limited to, the following: recordabletype media such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, CD ROMs, digitaltape, and computer memory.

The various embodiments described above can be combined to providefurther embodiments. To the extent that they are not inconsistent withthe specific teachings and definitions herein, all of the U.S. patents,U.S. patent application publications, U.S. patent applications, foreignpatents, foreign patent applications and non-patent publicationsreferred to in this specification and/or listed in the Application DataSheet, including but not limited to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 61/052,924, filed May 13, 2008; U.S. Patent Publication No.US2009/0284155, published Nov. 19, 2009; U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/051,619, filed May 8, 2008; U.S. Pat. No. 8,118,456,issued Feb. 12, 2012; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.61/088,651, filed Aug. 13, 2008; U.S. Pat. No. 8,334,640, issued Dec.18, 2012; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/115,438, filed Nov.17, 2008; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/154,619, filed Feb.23, 2009; U.S. Patent Publication No. US2010/0123403, published May 20,2010; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/174,913, filed May 1,2009; U.S. Patent Publication No. US2010/0277082, published Nov. 4,2010; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/180,017, filed May 20,2009; U.S. Patent Publication No. US2010/0295946, published Nov. 25,2010; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/229,435, filed Jul. 29,2009; U.S. Patent Publication No. US2011/0026264, published Feb. 3,2011; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/295,519 filed Jan. 15,2010; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/406,490 filed Oct. 25,2010; U.S. Pat. No. 8,378,563, issued Feb. 19, 2013; U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 61/333,983, filed May 12, 2010; U.S. Pat.No. 8,541,950, issued Sep. 24, 2013; U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 61/346,263, filed May 19, 2010, U.S. Pat. No. 8,508,137, issuedAug. 13, 2013; U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/357,421,filed Jun. 22, 2010; U.S. Patent Publication No. US2011/0310605,published Dec. 22, 2011; U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0262069,published Oct. 18, 2012; U.S. Pat. No. 8,610,358, issued Dec. 17, 2013;U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/527,029, filed Aug. 24,2011; U.S. Pat. No. 8,629,621, issued Jan. 14, 2014; U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 61/534,722, filed Sep. 14, 2011; U.S. PatentPublication No. 2013/0062637, published Mar. 14, 2013, filed Sep. 14,2012; U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/567,308, filedDec. 6, 2011; U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/561,616,filed Nov. 18, 2011; U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.61/641,781, filed May 2, 2012; U.S. Patent Publication No. 2013/0229518,published Sep. 5, 2013; U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.61/640,963, filed May 1, 2012; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.61/764,395 filed Feb. 13, 2013; U.S. Patent Publication No.2013/0028198, published Jan. 30, 2014; U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 61/692,619, filed Aug. 23, 2012; U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 61/694,159, filed Aug. 28, 2012; U.S. PatentPublication No. 2014/0062341, published Mar. 6, 2014; U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 61/723,675, filed Nov. 7, 2012; U.S. PatentPublication No. 2013/0141010, published Jun. 6, 2013; U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 61/728,150, filed Nov. 19, 2012; U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/764,395, filed Feb. 13, 2013;U.S. Patent Publication No. 2014/0062312, published Mar. 6, 2014, U.S.Patent Publication No. 2014/0139116, published May 22, 2014; U.S.Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 13/875,000 filed May 1,2013; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/849,841 filed Jul. 24,2013; U.S. Provisional patent application Ser. No. 13/973,696 filed Aug.22, 2013; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/878,425 filed Sep.16, 2013; U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/074,166filed Nov. 7, 2013; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/905,699filed Nov. 18, 2013; U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No.14/158,630 filed Jan. 17, 2014; Provisional Patent Application No.61/933,733 filed Jan. 30, 2014; and U.S. Non-Provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 14/179,737 filed on Feb. 14, 2014; U.S.Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/329,508 filed on Jul. 11,2014; U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/488,069 filedOn Sep. 16, 2014; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/068,517,filed Oct. 24, 2014; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/183,505,filed Jun. 23, 2015; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/082,463,filed Nov. 20, 2014; and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.62/057,419, filed Sep. 30, 2014; are incorporated herein by reference,in their entirety.

Aspects of the embodiments can be modified, if necessary, to employsystems, circuits and concepts of the various patents, applications andpublications to provide yet further embodiments.

These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of theabove-detailed description. In general, in the following claims, theterms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specificembodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should beconstrued to include all possible embodiments along with the full scopeof equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, theclaims are not limited by the disclosure.

1. A method of operation for a processor-based device to control aplurality of remotely located luminaires, the method comprising:receiving, by at least one central control processor, illumination datarelating to at least one of ambient illumination or time of day;generating, at the at least one central control processor, anillumination command based at least in part on the received illuminationdata; and distributing the illumination command through a power-linepower distribution system.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving, at the plurality of luminaires, the illumination commandthrough the power-line power distribution system; and controlling, ateach of the plurality of luminaires, illumination of each respectiveluminaire based at least in part on the received illumination command.3. The method of claim 2 wherein controlling the illumination of eachrespective luminaire based at least in part on the received illuminationcommand comprises: controlling, at a first set of the plurality ofluminaires, each respective luminaire in the first set to be in anilluminating state; and controlling, at a second set of the plurality ofluminaires, each respective luminaire in the second set to be in anon-illuminating state.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein receivingillumination data comprises receiving photosensor data obtained from aphotosensor operatively coupled to the at least one central controlprocessor.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving illumination datacomprises receiving time data from a clock operatively coupled to the atleast one central control processor.
 6. The method of claim 1 whereingenerating an illumination command based at least in part on thereceived illumination data comprises generating an illumination commandthat commands a first set of the plurality of luminaires to be in anilluminating state and commands a second set of the plurality ofluminaires to be in a non-illuminating state.
 7. The method of claim 1wherein generating an illumination command based at least in part on thereceived illumination data comprises generating an illumination commandthat commands luminaires in the plurality of luminaires associated witha first set of logical addresses to be in an illuminating state andcommands luminaires in the plurality of luminaires associated with asecond set of logical addresses to be in a non-illuminating state. 8.The method of claim 1 wherein generating an illumination command basedat least in part on the received illumination data comprises generatinga set of illumination commands, each of the illumination commands in theset of illumination commands directed to luminaires associated with aunique set of logical addresses.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: generating a set of illumination commands based at least inpart on the received illumination data, each one of the illuminationcommands in the set directed to a different subset of the plurality ofluminaires; and sequentially distributing each of the illuminationcommands in the set of illumination commands through the power-linepower distribution system.
 10. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising: receiving, at the plurality of luminaires, the illuminationcommands in the set of illumination commands through the power-linepower distribution system; and controlling, at each of the plurality ofluminaires, the illumination of each respective luminaire based at leastin part on the received illumination commands.
 11. The method of claim1, further comprising: partitioning the plurality of luminaires into atleast two subsets based at least in part on a geographical location ofeach of the luminaires; and logically associating each luminaire withone of the at least two subsets in a nontransitory processor-readablestorage medium; wherein generating an illumination command based atleast in part on the received illumination data comprises generating anillumination command directed to one of the subsets of luminaires in theat least two subsets.
 12. The method of claim 1 wherein distributing theillumination command through a power-line power distribution systemcomprises superimposing the illumination command onto a power line ofthe power-line power distribution system.
 13. The method of claim 1wherein receiving illumination data relating to at least one of ambientillumination or time of day comprises receiving illumination data froman illumination data source positioned remote from at least some of theplurality of luminaires.
 14. An illumination system, comprising: atleast one central control system comprising: at least one centralcontrol processor; at least one illumination data source operativelycoupled to the at least one central control processor; a centraltransceiver operatively coupled to the at least one central controlprocessor and a power-line power distribution system; and at least onenontransitory processor-readable storage medium operatively coupled tothe at least one central control processor and storing at least one ofdata or instructions which, when executed by the at least one centralcontrol processor, cause the at least one central control processor to:receive illumination data from the at least one illumination data sourcerelating to at least one of ambient illumination or time of day;generate an illumination command based at least in part on the receivedillumination data; and distribute the illumination command through thepower-line power distribution system via the central transceiver. 15.The illumination system of claim 14, further comprising: a plurality ofluminaires, each of the luminaires comprising: at least one luminairecontrol processor; at least one light source operatively coupled to theluminaire control processor; a luminaire transceiver operatively coupledto the at least one luminaire control processor and the power-line powerdistribution system; and at least one nontransitory processor-readablestorage medium operatively coupled to the at least one luminaire controlprocessor and storing at least one of data or instructions which, whenexecuted by the at least one luminaire control processor, cause the atleast one luminaire control processor to: receive the illuminationcommand through the power-line power distribution system via theluminaire transceiver; and control the operation of the at least onelight source based at least in part on the received illuminationcommand.
 16. The illumination system of claim 15 wherein, in response toreceipt of the illumination command from the at least one centralcontrol processor, the at least one luminaire control processor of eachrespective luminaire in a first set of luminaires controls the lightsource to be in an illuminating state, and the at least one luminairecontrol processor of each respective luminaire in a second set ofluminaires controls the light source to be in a non-illuminating state.17. The illumination system of claim 14 wherein the illumination datasource comprises a photosensor operatively coupled to the centralcontrol processor, and the at least one central control processorreceives photosensor data from the photosensor.
 18. The illuminationsystem of claim 14 wherein the illumination data source comprises aclock operatively coupled to the central control processor, and the atleast one central control processor receives time data from the clock.19. The illumination system of claim 14 wherein the at least one centralcontrol processor: generates an illumination command that commands afirst set of the plurality of luminaires to be in an illuminating stateand commands a second set of the plurality of luminaires to be in anon-illuminating state.
 20. The illumination system of claim 14 whereinthe at least one central control processor: generates an illuminationcommand that commands luminaires in the plurality of luminairesassociated with a first set of logical addresses to be in anilluminating state and commands luminaires in the plurality ofluminaires associated with a second set of logical addresses to be in anon-illuminating state.
 21. The illumination system of claim 14 whereinthe at least one central control processor: generates a set ofillumination commands, each of the illumination commands in the set ofillumination commands directed to luminaires associated with a uniqueset of logical addresses.
 22. The illumination system of claim 14wherein the at least one central control processor: generates a set ofillumination commands based at least in part on the receivedillumination data, each one of the illumination commands in the setdirected to a different subset of the plurality of luminaires; andsequentially distributes each of the illumination commands in the set ofillumination commands through the power-line power distribution system.23. The illumination system of claim 14 wherein the at least one centralcontrol processor: partitions the plurality of luminaires into at leasttwo subsets based at least in part on a geographical location of each ofthe luminaires; and logically associates each luminaire with one of theat least two subsets in the at least one nontransitoryprocessor-readable storage medium; wherein the at least one centralcontrol processor generates an illumination command directed to one ofthe subsets of luminaires in the at least two subsets.
 24. Theillumination system of claim 14 wherein the at least one centraltransceiver superimposes the illumination command onto a power line ofthe power-line power distribution system, and the luminaire transceiverof each luminaire receives distributed power from the power line of thepower-line power distribution system, and separates the illuminationcommand from the distributed power.
 25. The illumination system of claim14 wherein the illumination data source is positioned remote from atleast some of the plurality of luminaires.
 26. A method of operation fora processor-based device to control a plurality of remotely locatedluminaires, the method comprising: receiving, by at least one centralcontrol processor, illumination data relating to at least one of ambientillumination or time of day; generating, at the at least one centralcontrol processor, an illumination command based at least in part on thereceived illumination data; and distributing the illumination commandthrough a power-line power distribution system to the plurality ofluminaires; wherein each of the plurality of luminaires receives theillumination command through the power-line power distribution systemand controls the operation of each respective luminaire based at leastin part on the received illumination command.
 27. An illumination systemto control the operation of a plurality of luminaires, the illuminationsystem comprising: at least one central control system comprising: atleast one central control processor; at least one illumination datasource operatively coupled to the at least one central controlprocessor; a central transceiver operatively coupled to the at least onecentral control processor and a power-line power distribution system;and at least one nontransitory processor-readable storage mediumoperatively coupled to the at least one central control processor andstoring at least one of data or instructions which, when executed by theat least one central control processor, cause the at least one centralcontrol processor to: receive illumination data from the at least oneillumination data source relating to at least one of ambientillumination or time of day; generate an illumination command based atleast in part on the received illumination data; and distribute theillumination command through the power-line power distribution systemvia the central transceiver to the plurality of luminaires, each of theplurality of luminaires receives the illumination command through thepower-line power distribution system and controls the operation of eachrespective luminaire based at least in part on the received illuminationcommand.